


How I joined the People Who Don't Hate Kennedy Club

by thenewbuzwuzz_nonfic (thenewbuzwuzz)



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: Character Analysis, Gen, Meta, Nonfiction, Written on a Dare
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-19
Updated: 2019-09-19
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:39:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23050330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thenewbuzwuzz/pseuds/thenewbuzwuzz_nonfic
Summary: Not fic. In 2019, I was tagged in a meme to say some sincere nice things about my least favorite BtVS character. Next time someone asks about my least favorite character, I'm going to have to pick someone else, because I now like Kennedy much better than I did before writing the post.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7
Collections: March Meta Matters Challenge





	How I joined the People Who Don't Hate Kennedy Club

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted in September 2019 in my Dreamwidth journal. Crossposted in March 2020, with small edits mainly for formatting.  
> The title used to be "Kennedy Appreciation Post", but I changed it a few days after posting on AO3, because who's gonna stop me? That's right.

thewiggins tagged me to say some sincere nice things about my least favorite BtVS character, following the example of [Barb C.'s Andrew post](https://rahirah.tumblr.com/post/187788749048/i-recently-saw-a-snide-character-bashing-post) and [Wiggins' Riley post](https://acaseofthewiggins.tumblr.com/post/187810056599/in-which-i-try-to-say-a-few-nice-things-about) and others. Thanks, Wiggins! This was really fun.  
  
It took me a while to pick the character. I disqualified all villains and considered which of the remaining characters make me go " _That Bastard_ " and " _Just Go Away_ ", instead of only the occasional ( ~~or near-constant~~ ) " _Come on, don't do that... oh no, you did that_ ". The closest ones I could come up with are Kennedy and Forrest, & I think Kennedy has more screen time.  
  
Next time someone asks about my least favorite BtVS character, I'm going to have to pick Forrest, because I now like Kennedy much better than I did before writing the post.  
  
  
Here's what I like and appreciate about her, in no particular order.  
  
\- She's really fit.  
  
\- She's kind to Willow! She makes Willow take some time off and often reassures and encourages her. The kitestring thing is super sweet.  
  
\- She encouraged and helped Willow with the spell to activate the Potentials, which was critical in the final battle of s7, so Kennedy had an important role in saving the world.  
  
\- The first things she did after getting her Slayer powers were to compliment Willow and give the Scythe to Buffy: lifting up someone else and sharing power. I think that's remarkable.  
  
\- The first time she says something hurtful in "Empty Places", she apologizes twice - or, practically apologizes, it's good enough for me. " _I didn't— that was stupid. I don't know why I said that_." and " _I really didn't mean—_ "  
  
\- Also in Empty Places, she stands up to armed police officers who attack Faith. She doesn't have superpowers at this point. " _You're gonna have to shoot us all to stop us_." That's brave and good.  
  
\- And still in Empty Places [apparently a good episode to be Kennedy?], she helped make welcome-home decorations for Xander when he returned from the hospital after losing his eye, and I think she cared whether he liked it. " _We didn't have time to do more. You have to pretend there's a big party here._ "  
  
\- She trained the other Potentials best as she knew how. I'm sure this helped in the final battle and may even have saved someone's life in earlier skirmishes. It also lightened the workload of Buffy and Giles.  
  
\- She's self-aware enough to say she's " _kind of a brat_ " and " _always sort of gotten [her] way_ " (in "Chosen"). I respect that.

  
  
I'm going through the [Kennedy page on Buffy Wiki](https://buffy.fandom.com/wiki/Kennedy), because it's been a while since I watched season 7:

> \- " _An open lesbian, Kennedy claimed she knew about her sexuality since the age of five, after watching Gone with the Wind and wanting to “sweep Scarlett off her feet.”_ "  
>  That's just cute
> 
> \- " _She had also established to have been in theater class._ "  
>  I find that attractive, okay
> 
> \- " _had been trained to use weapons since the age of eight_ "  
>  the competence, man
> 
> \- She founded what in the comics? " _Deepscan was a company founded by Kennedy, where members of the rich elite hired Slayers as bodyguards..._ " See, I knew she had leadership potential. Slayers have got to eat, and that sure is one solution. Plus, they helped people. They protected someone against Wolfram & Hart and found some people who were lost in the jungle. Kennedy helped that happen.

\- Based on the [transcript of "Potential"](http://transcripts.foreverdreaming.org/viewtopic.php?f=122&t=8440), Kennedy seems to deflect attention from herself and encourage Amanda to speak up and feel included. That's really thoughtful of her.

> "MOLLY (to Kennedy) When you staked him, seriously, the rush was like—  
>  KENNEDY (to Amanda) So you took one out solo?  
>  MOLLY Yeah, what was that like?  
>  AMANDA I don't know. I mean, when I saw the vampire, vamp—  
>  KENNEDY Vampire's good too.  
>  AMANDA Cool. Yeah, when that vampire attacked me, I felt this kind of charge, you know?"

\- Also, she has a tongue piercing, so there's that, I guess.  
  
  
So, mainly I like that Kennedy is competent and helpful. I was surprised to notice that she's way more considerate than I ever gave her credit for.

**Author's Note:**

> In the [comments on DW](https://thenewbuzwuzz.dreamwidth.org/148747.html?nc=14#comments), people raised some great points about why Kennedy can be so hard to like, and also I got a badge for joining the People Who Don't Hate Kennedy club!  
> 
> 
> And the way I ended the original post still stands:  
> If anyone would like to continue the meme, I would love to see that. For people who aren't primarily into Buffy, maybe you'd like to do this for another fandom?


End file.
